{-Noa-}

It was almost funny. They all saw it, in one way or another they all acknowledged what it meant. But they never said a word about it; how quiet Rennyn would get, until he asked a sudden, desperate question, or froze at something that wasn’t there. It was something that Noa, though he didn’t really want to admit it, would consider the “defining factor” of their time together so far. Yet Kaylin—the only one brave enough to try—seemed to fear even acknowledging it as different. He knew that things weren’t always like this, but he also knew no one would answer if he tried to ask.

He wished he would’ve, though. Lyrei and Seldir seemed to pick up on that part pretty quickly, which the former especially didn’t seem to feel assured by. Noa would’ve resolved to tell them but, well, when he didn’t know anything himself… it would just be a false promise.

When they got close enough to the station, one of the guards noticed them. She quickly said something to one of her companions before walking up to the five of them.

“Wasn’t expecting to see you here today, Seldir!” she said cheerfully. “What are you doing out here? You should take Lyrei and these other guys back home, we’ve gotten orders to keep the streets empty.”

“I know, but there’s something important we need to talk about.” Seldir glanced at the other four for a moment. “This is Xarena, something of a friend of mine. Xarena, you’ve kind of already met Lyrei, but these three are Rennyn, Kaylin, and Noa.”

“That’s great and all, but I can’t bend the rules for you guys.” She shrugged. “They’re foreigners, aren’t they? I’ve never seen them around before. If this is about a place to stay, then Queen Vaeri’s instructed we keep everyone without room and board—”

“That isn’t the issue.”

Rennyn, it seemed, decided to get straight to the point. “You’re going to be investigating the fire in the Archives, right? We want to help you.”

She stared at him for a minute, then laughed. “I like your enthusiasm, kid, but there’s a handful of reasons why I can’t let you do that.”

“What if we have information that you don’t have?” he prompted.

“Is it really something we wouldn’t have come across on our own, though?” She shrugged. “We’re probably gonna go interviewing people as soon as we get the orders. I can check with the boss but I’m pretty sure you can’t really use that as a bribe…”

Noa recognized where this was going—they might not officially be allowed to help at this rate, and simply trailing after the guards would’ve made things worse. Luckily for all of them, he had something the rest of them didn’t: a very, very vague form of a political presence.

“We come from Elatenes by request of Lord Aymer,” Noa tried. Quite frankly the statement surprised even himself. “They’ve been dealing with strange occurrences, too, and have learned more about the person behind them. He sent me and two capable individuals to assist your investigation and to share what we know.”

“Can’t imagine a kid like you really got sent out here…”

“Ask your supervisor about Lord Noagi. Then you’ll know I mean what I say.”

Xarena didn’t look like she believed him, but must’ve decided to amuse him anyway. She mumbled something like “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes” and walked into the station.

“I know you’re trying to help,” Seldir began, “but I don’t think that’s going to do anything aside from get us in trouble.”

Noa simply answered, “I wasn’t lying.”

Suffice to say, Lyrei was far more excited than Seldir was. “Really? We’ve got a noble in our band of misfits?”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Yeah. But I wouldn’t consider it anything too special… I’d still be surprised if this works.” Noa let out a nervous chuckle. “I never participated in a lot of the foreign politics. If they’re just regular guards they might not have actually heard of me.”

“Well, if one thing’s for sure, we’re probably not going to be able to walk around if they recognize it,” Rennyn mumbled. He definitely wasn’t impressed. “It’s just going to make us more obvious if others know.”

Kaylin nudged him. “Come on, Noa’s only trying to help.”

Noa was glad to see Xarena walking back to them.

“Alright,” she announced, “you win. Congratulations, apparently he has heard of you. It sounds like he was told by Queen Vaeri to keep an eye out for you and your friends—something Lord Aymer told her. And with that was letting you do what you wanted. So, if you want to come along, then I can’t stop you.”

“Wait, if Queen Vaeri’s received the letter, then would we be able to meet with her?” Rennyn asked. “That’s what we’re here for. We can help here, but really, it’s probably better for everyone if we just talked to her and left again…”

“He mentioned that too, for some reason. Maybe he knew you’d ask.” She shrugged. “Queen Vaeri told him that, if he had seen you, he should just tell you that she’s not ready yet. She’ll send a messenger to find you when she’s ready.”

Rennyn sighed, but shook his head and went back to the topic at hand. “How can we help with the investigation? I’ll do everything I can to help.”

“We,” Kaylin corrected quietly. “We’re all doing this together.”

Noa nodded. “Whether you want us to or not.”

“I’ll have to warn you, this is serious,” Xarena pointed out, interrupting whatever protest Rennyn might’ve had. “There’s not really a lot of room for the power of friendship when it comes to these sorts of things. No one might’ve gotten hurt this time, but we treat this seriously—as if everyone in that wing had died because of it. Alright? No fooling around.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re aware of that,” Seldir assured her. “But we both know it’s better to show than to simply tell. Put us to work—we’ll let you see how capable we are.”

Xarena gestured back towards the station. “I don’t think we have any intentions of actually looking for someone just yet. If you’ve got information, though, go ahead and tell the boss. He’ll know what to do with it. But you don’t all need to come. I don’t think there’s much room in there anyway…”

“I’ll go,” Rennyn offered. “I know more about the situation as a whole.”

Kaylin put a hand on his shoulder, resolved towards something, and said, “I’ll come with you.”

It seemed there was an entire conversation in their glance, one of a recurring problem and a result that he wouldn’t like.

Xarena either didn’t notice or didn’t care, though, because she just led them back to the station.

Which left the three of them alone with hardly anything to do. They stared at each other for a moment before a guard—who must’ve overheard the rest of the conversation—gestured them over and told them to have a seat.

Just as Noa was beginning to wonder when someone would say something, Lyrei quietly remarked, “This isn’t exactly like I thought it would be.”

“You built it up in your head,” Seldir pointed out. “Things will never be able to match whatever you can come up with.”

Noa sighed. “I think it’s… a little more than that, though. I didn’t really remember anything from before—they came to Silvium like that. But I still feel it… what they want to keep us from.”

“What started it?” Lyrei dared to ask. “What had they gone through when we weren’t able to be with them..?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know, really. Rennyn lived fourteen other lives, not counting this one or the one where we were all together. Kaylin wasn’t in all of them, but from what I’ve gathered, the reason varied. Sometimes she just wasn’t there and others she… died during it. I think he’s lost others, too. Not everyone has believed his story as readily as we have. Maybe it’s all just weariness from doing this for so long…”

“No wonder he’s like that, then,” Seldir mumbled. “The kid was right about acting older than his age. I’ve never really experienced it myself, but I’ve heard stories of what the mercenary life could do to a person. And that’s only in a single lifetime…”

Hearing it all, Lyrei seemed to gain a new burst of resolve. “Well, we’ll just have to prove it to him, then—that he can rely on us and that nothing bad is going to happen. As long as we’re together, we’ll change things. He just has to be willing to let us try.”

“I’m… not completely sure being willing is the main problem here…”